Lifting Weights
by GallaudetLurker
Summary: Robbie tries to lift weights to try to impress Cat. And fails miserably. CABBIE Robbie/Cat


**A/N: Oh, my. What's this? GallaudetLurker, the Rade author, is writing a Cabbie story? Yes, yes, he is - and it's his first, so he's a bit nervous. But then, he feels that he got it right...hopefully.**

**Enjoy this Cabbie one-shot that GallaudetLurker wrote. Yeah, he's a wonderful writer, huh?**

**As usual, GallaudetLurker does not own Victorious, for it belongs to Dan Schneider. A pity, considering that there would be plenty of Rade if he did. Oh well.**

**Also, in contrast to his current story, 'Fateful Decisions', GallaudetLurker will be using a simpler writing style because, frankly, he's feeling a bit lazy and not to mention, he's stuck with writer's block while trying to figure out what to write for the next chapter of 'Fateful Decisions'.**

**Without further ado, enjoy this story that GallaudetLurker, out of the kindness in his heart, had decided to write for you all.**

**(Gee, it's fun referring yourself in the third person, isn't it? :P)**

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><p><em><strong>Do You Like Me?<strong>_

"You can't do it." Rex Powers taunted. Robbie Shapiro sighed.

"Why not?" Robbie inquired, looking at the dummy. If Rex could shrug his shoulders, he could've done that.

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Three little words." Rex paused for dramatic effect. "Because. You. Suck."

Robbie heaved out a sigh as he now found himself at the Hollywood Arts gym. "C'mon, Rex. Can't you at least be a bit supportive?" Rex pretended to think it over for a moment.

"Nah. Wasn't in the job description."

Robbie simply shook his head as he walked through the gym doors, and was assaulted by the murky smell of the gym that pervaded his nose. Various gym exercise machines such as treadmills, elliptical trainers, gliders, dumbbells, barbells, and weight machines of varying sizes and weights were scattered all around in the gym room. Various people were using them. Bulky men that made him look like a thin toothpick in comparison.

Now, the question was...why was Robbie Shapiro, the lanky, scrawny nerd whose ribs slightly protruded from his pale chest, going to a gym?

The answer was simple: he was trying to impress a girl.

Ever since when wasn't he trying to impress a girl at some point of his life? Remember that part where he tried to pursue Trina? Yeah, if getting roughhoused by the girl who had given him a stage kiss - and he had thought it was otherwise real - or getting humiliated in class when she sideswiped his desk to the floor, or when she spit milk in his face or dumped his face into a bowl of soup wasn't going to dissuade him from pursuing a girl, then nothing was going to do that.

It certainly didn't dissuade him, owing to his patient personality that easily made him one of the most annoying people at Hollywood Arts.

Now beg the question: who precisely was the lucky girl Robbie was trying to impress?

Why, it was nothing other than Cat Valentine, the adorable, ditzy, flirty, redheaded girl who he had happened to fall in love with - and it wasn't simply because she gave him a kiss to disprove his theory about Trina being in love with him. No, he knew better than that now, but it was just now that he had somewhere along the way developed feelings for his friend, the only one in the group who didn't think of him as weird or pick on him or otherwise make him feel ashamed.

Like Jade West did every day.

Sometimes Robbie wondered if Jade secretly liked him or something.

He was going on a trip with his friends to a foreign country fairly soon, and Robbie wanted to bulk up a bit in preparation for that. Rex had roared with raucous laughter when Robbie had told him that in the first place.

Hence the reason Robbie didn't tell his friends, not especially Jade. Who knows what hurtful words she could use to stab him in one of the most painful ways? And certainly not Cat herself.

Robbie felt himself sigh a bit dreamily as Cat's smiling face appeared on his mind. There was so many aspects about Cat Valentine that attracted him to her that he couldn't name them all. But if he had to, it was probably her dimpled smile, which could brighten up even the most hardened criminals on the planet; her eyes who shined with pure innocence; her cheerful personality that was so infectious that he couldn't help but feel happy; her positive outlook on life; and much more.

However, she didn't seem like she was interested in him, and that disheartened him. And her rejection to his invitation to the Prome further confirmed in his mind that she didn't like him the way he liked her (and he was even hurt when he had thought she'd lied to him about inviting a football player named Tug - until he actually saw them with his own eyes and felt ashamed about it).

He blinked out of his thoughts as he heard footsteps head toward him, and turned his head to see a broad-shouldered man with a short hair come toward him. He looked like a gym coach or something, judging by his outfit and the whistle that was dangling on a necklace that hung around his neck.

"Hey kid. I think you're in the wrong place. The science club's that way." The man said, pointing toward the door.

"See, man? That was what I keep on telling him, but unfortunately he won't listen to me." Rex piped up.

"Rex." Robbie said in a scolding tone before turning to the man and clearing his throat awkwardly. "Um...I'm not heading for the science club. I'm actually, um, here for exercise."

The man raised his eyebrows, laughter dancing in his eyes and an amused grin on his face.

"Seriously? Um, I mean, that's good to hear. But, uh, won't the gym be a bit...rough for you?"

"Yeah, it is for him. He can't even ride a bik-mmph!" Rex began to speak but was quickly silenced by Robbie's hand.

"Don't listen to him!" Robbie protested. "And thanks for the warning, but I think I can, uh, handle it." The man looked at him with a doubtful look on his face.

"You _sure_?"

Robbie nodded, and the man shrugged. "Eh, if you say so. Have fun. Try not to hurt yourself." He walked away, and Robbie could hear him chuckle to himself.

Scanning around the gym, Robbie tried to decide where he would go first. After some thinking, he made a decision. "I'm gonna try the weights first." Robbie stated to Rex, who snorted.

"Oho, this ought to be _interesting_. These weights weigh more than _you_ do."

Robbie ignored Rex's comment as he set the dummy on a nearby chair, and rubbed his hands together as he walked over to a large barbell.

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><p>It didn't go so well.<p>

Robbie found himself aching all over. His muscles all over his body was sore as his biceps and tendons felt like they were stretched beyond respite.

"Hate to say this, man, but told you so." Rex chirped as Robbie walked - more like limped - through the hallway toward his locker, feeling one of his muscles pull and constrict painfully with each step.

"Not now." Robbie groaned as he suddenly began coughing and wheezing. His decision to use a barbell without a watcher present? Yeah, it was one of the worst decisions in his life. He was fairly sure the barbell - and it was one of the lightest ones - would've sliced through his neck had the man who he had encountered earlier not shown up just in time to save the day.

And this was only one of the many mishaps that had happened to him in the gym. And that wasn't mentioning the near-incident when a particularly bulky man took offense to Rex's off-handed remark of him being on steroids, and thought it was Robbie who said that.

He still felt humiliation course through his chest as he remembered the coach's amused, or was it patronizing, expression on his face as he cautioned against using barbells alone in a 'tsk-tsk'ing tone. And the laughter of other men around him certainly didn't help matters one bit.

"Good thing that man showed up just in time to save you from the barbell of death, eh?" Rex spoke up, as if he had been reading Robbie's mind.

"Don't remind me." Robbie muttered. He had managed to reach his locker and tried to open it midst his pain when-

"Hi Robbie!"

Robbie felt himself jolt as his heart began to beat faster, sparking off a sensation of adrenaline that swept all over his body.

It was her. Cat Valentine. The girl who he had a crush on. The girl who was skipping over to him.

Turning to Cat, Robbie felt his breath get taken away, once again, as he surveyed her. Her straight red (more like maroon) cascaded down her beautiful face like waterfalls as her sparkling eyes locked into his. She, as always, looked _gorgeous_ in her bright-colored clothing; she was wearing a simple sundress that hugged her curvaceous figure _perfectly_.

"H-hey Cat." Robbie stammered a bit as he opened his locker, feeling his heart hammer in his chest, sweat of perspiration forming a bit in his hands. "Hey babe." Rex drawled out.

Cat looked at Rex a bit weirdly before turning to Robbie, her smile back on with full force before a worried expression crossed her face.

"Robbie, are you okay? You look like...you're in pain." She asked concerned as she placed a gentle hand on his arm. Robbie put on a small smile and went on to open his mouth when Rex beat him to it.

"Yeah, he's in pain because he went to the gym." Cat's eyes widened a bit.

"You went to the gym? Not that you're not strong, but...why?" She inquired, a curious and yet worried look on her face.

Robbie shot Rex a look before he sighed. "Just figured that I'd bulk up a bit, y'know build myself up and all that stuff." He said shrugging, wincing a bit when he felt pain shoot through him.

"Why? I like you the way you are now." Cat's eyes widened a bit and she clapped her mouth, her chest beginning to turn pink. "Um, what I mean is that you look perfect the way y-oh! How do I put it this way!" She pouted, looking a bit flustered.

Feeling flattened, and blushing a bit himself, Robbie began to grin. "Um, thanks Cat." He said as he rubbed the back of his head. "And I get what you're trying to say, but I just want to, like, improve myself, you know?"

"Aww, little Red Riding Hood likes you!" Rex laughed. "Who shoulda suspected that? A freak and a nerd likes each other! Why otherwise should you exercise in a gym?"

Cat gasped. "Robbie, your best friend's being mean to me!" Robbie glared at Rex before turning to the locker.

"That's it! Back in the locker you go!" He crammed Rex into his locker, ignoring the puppet's protests and slammed his locker shut. Turning to Cat, Robbie smiled a bit sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

Cat grinned brightly. "No problem!" That was one thing Robbie adored in Cat, she was so cheerful that she couldn't get sad or mad for long. Robbie chuckled. "So, uh, excited for the trip to Eurba?" Eurba was this one country that Tori Vega had planned to take the gang - Andre, Beck, Cat, Jade, himself, even Trina - on a trip.

Cat nodded her head excitedly. "Yeah! I hear it's supposed to be a paradise! Like this time my brother went to Chile because he thought it was a paradise, but he got arrested and held because he accidentally struck an official in the eye! Can you _believe_ that?" Robbie laughed.

They continued to chat for a few moments before Cat's face became thoughtful and serious.

"Hey...what did Rex mean when he said, and I quote, 'a freak and a nerd likes each other'"? Robbie's eyes widened as his heart began to beat rapidly, slight panic beginning to flow through him.

"I-I don't know what he meant." Robbie lied as he grasped his backpack. "Um...gotta get to class, I'm a bit late anyways. So see you, Cat." He started to walk away, but Cat grabbed his arm and held him back, a serious look on her face.

"Robbie, tell me. What did Rex mean by that?" Cat fixed Robbie a determined stare. Robbie was caught off guard by this change in Cat's persona from cheery to serious, and this wasn't a side of Cat that he saw too often.

Robbie swallowed a bit nervously. "It's...it's nothing. Rex just likes to say stuff." Cat glared a bit. "Robbie."

"Do you like me?"

Robbie stared at her, feeling his beating heart in conjunction with slight pangs of pain shooting through his muscles. Cat was blushing a little. Yes, he really really liked Cat - heck, he probably even loved her, but should he tell her that? And risk rejection?

"Um...yes I do like you as a friend, Cat." Robbie said, partially lying through his teeth. Yes, he did like Cat...but more than a friend. "But, uh, I really got to go to class-" He was cut off.

Something soft was gently touching his lips. Cat had grabbed his face, pulled him down, and pressed her lips against his, setting off sparks that he had felt when she had kissed him the first time. It was...actually - it was hard to describe, but if he had to, he would have to say it was the most _wonderful_ thing he had ever experienced.

She tasted like strawberry, and her strawberry scent was slowly driving him crazy as he let his backpack fall off his shoulder as he slowly wrapped his arms around her petite waist and pulled her closer, while she wrapped her arms around his neck. The kiss slowly became more...heated, passionate even, before the need for air became too great to ignore.

Breaking apart, Robbie panted a bit as his pain seemed to fade while he looked into Cat's eyes. She was smiling shyly, a blush on her face. Robbie felt his lips curve up into a smile as he slowly nodded.

"Yes, I really do like you, Cat."

Cat's smile widened as her eyes twinkled. "I really like you too, Robbie." A moment of silence passed before Cat grabbed Robbie's hand, intertwining her fingers with Robbie's, and gently pulled him with her.

"Come on, we have class to go to, don't we?" Cat said, grinning. Robbie grinned back as he bent slightly to pick up his backpack before going with her.

Rex lay in Robbie's locker, forgotten.

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><p><strong>AN: Well, here it is. This is the one-shot that GallaudetLurker threw together in, like, twenty minutes or so at 2am in the morning after being inspired by a comment that he saw while browsering the Cabbie page on the Victorious wiki.**

**How wonderful is Victorious wiki for inspiring story ideas, huh? Lol.**

**Once again, hope you like this story.**

**Leave a review. GallaudetLurker loves them, heh.**

**Proud member of the Rade Revolution.**


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